Health And Safety News & Articles
Health and Safety news promoting best practices and effective Health and Safety management.
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Day for Health and Safety at Work, 28th April
Today, Tuesday, 28th April, is the World Day for Health and Safety at Work. As leading health and safety practitioners, this is an awareness day close to our hearts.
Led by the International Labour Organization, this annual international initiative is to shine a spotlight on the importance of safe workplaces – both physically and emotionally – something we do daily in our field.
This year’s theme looks at the psychosocial factors and risks to mental health at work. A new global report from the ILO has revealed that more than 840,000 people die…
Working at Height Regulations 2005: The Hierarchy of Controls Explained
How the working at height regulations apply in practice, who carries the duty, and how to use the avoid, prevent, mitigate hierarchy on real sites.
Competent Person Requirements Under Regulation 7 of the MHSWR 1999: A Practical Guide for Employers
Regulation 7 of the MHSWR 1999 requires every employer to appoint a competent person health and safety adviser. Learn how competence is judged.
Powerhouse picks up two more award nominations
The powerhouse female leader of our Northamptonshire health and safety consultancy has been shortlisted for two much-coveted national awards.
Zeynep Guzelkasap, operations director at Acorn Safety Services, has been named as a finalist in the Woman in Construction category of the National Business Women’s Awards.
She has also appeared in the rollcall for The Alan McArthur Unsung Hero Award at the 2026 Safety and Health Excellence Awards, which celebrates an individual who has gone above and beyond to raise health and safety standards or who has…
Fire Risk Assessment For Pet Shops: What Responsible Persons Need To Cover
Fire Risk Assessment For Pet Shops should cover ignition sources, escape routes, animal welfare issues and practical duties for responsible persons.
Lorna promoted to fire safety manager
The female fire maestro at our Northamptonshire health and safety consultancy has been promoted to manager, leading one of the company’s three dedicated divisions.
Lorna Smith joined Acorn Safety Services in August last year as a senior fire risk assessor.
Less than nine months after her appointment, Lorna has been promoted to fire safety manager. She will head up the Fire Safety department, with two other specialists in charge of the consultancy’s Health and Safety section and Legionella division respectively.
Lorna, who previously worked as a…
Women In Construction Week 2026
This week, our industry is celebrating Women in Construction Week, organised by The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC).
This year the theme is 'Level Up, Build Strong’ which is something we champion here at Acorn Safety Services, where almost one third of our workforce is made up of strong, skilled women, led by a powerhouse female operations duo.
With this week culminating in International Women’s Day on Sunday, 8th March, we thought we’d shine a spotlight on the incredibly talented women in our ranks.
Zeynep Guzelkasap –…
Fire Focus: Emergency Lighting Testing
Emergency lighting is installed in buildings to ensure that there is a clear indication of how to escape safely in the event of a power failure.
Normally, emergency lighting is situated down corridors, over emergency exits and in high-risk areas like power rooms, plant rooms, boiler rooms, and where there might be any emergency or high-risk equipment.
It is vital that emergency lighting is tested regularly, as in the event of a fire, or any other unexpected emergency, having reliable lighting to guide people to a suitable exit and a safe…
Fire Focus: Fire Risk Assessments
Fire risk assessments are a legal requirement for all businesses to undertake in their premises.
Fundamentally, fire risk assessments are to check for the fire risk in a building in order to protect life and make sure people can get out of the building safely in the event of an emergency.
Fire risk assessments involve a fire risk assessor walking around the building to check exit routes, exit doors, and that the numerous different ways of escape or rescue are unobstructed, clearly marked and lit with emergency lighting.
As a minimum, a fire…
Double bubble for our leader
The high-achieving, dynamic leader of Acorn Safety Services has been named as a finalist in two categories at the 2026 SME Northamptonshire Business Awards.
Zeynep Guzelkasap has a well-deserved brace of nominations in the much-coveted gongs, having been shortlisted for both Businesswoman of the Year and Businessperson of the Year.
Since Zeynep joined our leading health and safety consultancy in January 2023, she has revolutionised the company’s approach creating a unique business model, with three specialist experts heading up and managing…
Fire Focus: Fire door inspections
Fire door inspections are vital.
Fire doors should be considered as a life-saving device as the door is often what holds back smoke and flames, protecting occupants.
A closed fire door, which has been properly installed and maintained can typically protect against smoke and flames for 30 minutes or longer, giving people more chance of escape or rescue.
A fire door can also limit damage to other parts of the building and keep escape routes safe in the event of emergency.
Inspections of fire doors are crucial in ensuring that we maintain the…
Fire Focus: Fire Drills
When an emergency situation occurs, it is vital to have a workforce that know how to react. Fire drills are a vital way of keeping people safe and well prepared in the event of a fire.
Fire drills are an important part of any building to ensure that the people in the building know how to escape and can safely evacuate. Practice makes it quicker to get out of the building and know where your assembly point is. The more people undergo the fire drill process, the easier it becomes to follow in an emergency.
For this reason, fire drills should be…
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